Currently, ATM machines have limited support for display of web content, for remote management of the ATM, for remote software distribution, and for diagnostic troubleshooting. ATM machines include computer applications or software running on computer hardware within the ATM machine which, for example, interfaces with a host computer and other remote computers connected to the ATM machine over a network. On ATM systems that a financial institution, such as a bank, develops and that are used in branches or other locations, there are a set of functions that are used by supervisors and operators in the branch. These operator and supervisor functions are outside of the customer applications and need to be performed on a routine basis to maintain the service to administer those ATM machines.
The ATM is essentially a machine that has a computer within it that runs an operating system, such as Windows NT, and other software components that are running within the infrastructure software that supports global ATM applications. Different types of activities occur at the ATM, one of the most critical of which is customer transaction session type activity. At different times, there are other types of activities that go on at the ATM, such as administration of the ATM when it is necessary to perform a settlement between the ATM and the host for the transactions that have occurred since the last time a settlement was performed.
Also, between the ATM and system management, there are activities to control the ATM by the system management, such as stopping or rebooting the ATM remotely. There are other kinds of ATM maintenance types of activity which have to be supported from time to time when there is a hardware problem, and there are other kinds of hardware or device related activity, for example, in which a field service engineer must go to a particular ATM for a diagnostics type of session. It is inevitable that a collision can occur between these activities in terms of contention for resources or that could affect the integrity, for example, of a customer transaction while it is progress, in the absence of some kind of coordination of such activities.
Typically, a financial institution, such as a bank, develops its own proprietary ATM hardware and software, in addition to ATM hardware and software which it may purchase from a variety of ATM vendors. Implementation of systems from other makers can be difficult because, for example, of difficulty in interfacing and reusing present application resources. ATMs contain special devices, such as cash dispensers, card readers, and printers, which require a specialized interface for control from applications. Previously, hardware makers' interfaces were proprietary, and the Windows Open Services Architecture Extensions for Financial Services (WOSA/XFS) were developed to define a standard for application control of specialized ATM peripherals.
ATM machines include computer applications or software running on computer hardware within the ATM machine which, for example, displays on the ATM touch screen and interfaces with a host computer and other remote computers connected to the ATM over a network. Before an ATM machine is deployed, the software must be installed on the processor or computer hardware of the ATM machine, and from time to time, it may be necessary to upgrade the software on the ATM machine.
Currently, when an ATM machine is to be deployed, for example, by a financial institution, such as a bank, it is necessary for the financial institution to send a technical representative to perform a local installation of the software on the ATM machine. It may likewise be necessary for the financial institution to send a technical representative to perform a local upgrade of the software on the ATM machine from time to time. ATM machines are typically located, for example, at local branches of the financial institution, which may require the technical representative to travel a considerable distance. Thus, there is a substantial cost to the financial institution in terms, for example, of the time and travel expense associated with locally installing and/or upgrading software releases on the ATM machines.
The financial institution, such as the bank, which has a global ATM product, requires software that runs on the ATMs that is designed to run in a global environment throughout the world and across many different hardware vendors. In that situation, the financial institution also wants to have one common release of the software for the product. However, in order to have a common software release for each particular financial terminal on which the product is loaded, each financial terminal must be tailored with specific information that is peculiar to it, and putting that site specific information on the terminal is problematic.
Presently, use of an ATM by a customer of the financial institution, such as the bank, presents a tremendous challenge to the customer who happens to be partially sighted and a virtually impossible task for the customer who happens to be totally non-sighted. Typically, when a customer goes to an ATM to perform a financial transaction, such as deposit, withdraw, or transfer funds, the customer communicates with the bank's ATM system via a touch screen and perhaps a keypad at the ATM. Currently, many ATMs which are intended to support visually impaired people do not have an audio circuit. Such ATMs use touch screens, and the access for a visually impaired person is to approach the ATM and touch the touch screen to begin an ATM session and to enter his or her personal identification number. While some of these ATMs use different fonts on the touch screen, for example, for partially sighted persons, such ATMs are of no benefit to totally non-sighted persons.
In some currently available ATM's for visually impaired persons, the navigation is in a large area of the screen, such as quadrants or quarters of the screen, on the principle that even a totally unsighted person should be able to fairly accurately touch a quarter of the screen without being any more precise than that in order to make a selection. For example, if the visually impaired person is entering information, such as a number in order to withdraw money, the visually impaired person enters a number by touching the touch screen a certain number of times, such as two times for the number two or three times for the number three. A limited number of ATMs intended to support visually impaired persons currently provide audio feedback, such as a scripted audio functionality via a built-in loudspeaker to supplement the touchscreen/keypad interface for visually impaired persons. However, such ATMs have not provided a particularly satisfactory solution for visually impaired persons, for example, because the scripted prompts are audible to passers-by, which compromises both the privacy and the security of the visually impaired person's ATM transaction.